Published: September 24, 2009 12:05 am      

COURTS: Hamilton trial will be delayed

Volume of evidence to be reviewed by defense attorneys is blamed

The man accused of shooting two Niagara Falls police officers and his estranged girlfriend will get a new trial date after his defense team told a Niagara County Court judge they need more time to prepare.

Jury selection in the attempted murder trial of Adam Hamilton had been set to begin Nov. 2.

However, a combined series of pre-trial hearings in the case won’t be held until Nov. 23.

A new trial date will be set then.

“We’re probably looking at some time after the first of the year,” defense attorney Joel Daniels said.

Daniels and co-counsel Daniel Henry met with Niagara County District Attorney Michael Violante and Assistant DA Robert Zucco before a brief hearing in front of Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza on Wednesday.

Zucco said prosecutors were trying to help Hamilton’s third defense team go through the evidence in the case.

“The Falls police tell me the evidence in this case is the most of any case they’ve ever investigated,” Zucco told the judge. “In light of the volume of evidence, I’m going to turn over to the defense all of our pictures and portions of the grand jury minutes, along with the crime scene investigation lists and logs.”

Daniels told Sperrazza the mountain of evidence being turned over required more time to review.

“We need a handle of all of (the evidence) to determine how to move forward,” Daniels said. “The bottom line is we need some more time.”

Finding a new trial date was complicated by federal trials facing Daniels and Henry in the months of October and November.

Hamilton, 34, 2718 22nd St., has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder, a single charge of attempted second-degree murder and one count of aggravated criminal contempt. He is being held without bail.

The charges stem from a wild gun battle on South Avenue Feb. 7 that left two police officers and Hamilton’s estranged girlfriend wounded.

Police had responded to a call of a man with a gun and then shots fired outside the South Avenue home of Stephanie Turk. When they arrived, they found Hamilton outside, armed with a shotgun, and he opened fire.

Traffic Division Officer Walter Nichols was seriously wounded when a blast from the shotgun struck him in the left side, between the panels of his bulletproof vest. He underwent emergency surgery at ECMC, where doctors removed birdshot pellets from around his heart and stomach.

K-9 Officer Mike Bird was also struck by flying birdshot and still has a pellet lodged in his left cheek.

Police said Turk, 27, who was also in front of the home when the bullets began flying, suffered from both knife and gunshot wounds. She had been stabbed in the abdomen and suffered a birdshot wound to the head before officers arrived.

Turk spent weeks in the intensive care unit at ECMC recovering from her wounds.

Hamilton’s first defense team had filed a required notice with the court indicating that Hamilton would invoke a so-called insanity defense. Daniels said he didn’t know if he and Henry would follow that strategy.

“We’re looking at everything,” Daniels said. “We haven’t decided what path we’re going to go down.”

Both Turk and Hamilton have filed notices that they intend to sue the city for the wounds they suffered in the incident. Nichols and Bird are both believed to have returned fire at Hamilton, along with at least two other officers who responded to the scene.

Investigators have said there is no evidence that Turk was wounded by police gunfire.